Spector jurors hear 2 versions of case against him / He's on trial in actress' shooting death

Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times

Published
4:00 am PDT, Thursday, April 26, 2007

** ADDS THAT RACHELLE SPECTOR IS PHIL SPECTOR'S WIFE AND THAT HER LAST NAME IS SPECTOR--NOT SHORT--WHICH IS HER MAIDEN NAME **Music producer Phil Spector, center, is led to Los Angeles Criminal Court by a sheriff's deputy for opening statements in his trial in Los Angeles, Wednesday, April 25, 2007. Accompanying Spector are his wife, Rachelle Spector, left, and his bodyguards. Spector is on trial for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian) less

** ADDS THAT RACHELLE SPECTOR IS PHIL SPECTOR'S WIFE AND THAT HER LAST NAME IS SPECTOR--NOT SHORT--WHICH IS HER MAIDEN NAME **Music producer Phil Spector, center, is led to Los Angeles Criminal Court by a ... more

Photo: Kevork Djansezian

Photo: Kevork Djansezian

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** ADDS THAT RACHELLE SPECTOR IS PHIL SPECTOR'S WIFE AND THAT HER LAST NAME IS SPECTOR--NOT SHORT--WHICH IS HER MAIDEN NAME **Music producer Phil Spector, center, is led to Los Angeles Criminal Court by a sheriff's deputy for opening statements in his trial in Los Angeles, Wednesday, April 25, 2007. Accompanying Spector are his wife, Rachelle Spector, left, and his bodyguards. Spector is on trial for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian) less

** ADDS THAT RACHELLE SPECTOR IS PHIL SPECTOR'S WIFE AND THAT HER LAST NAME IS SPECTOR--NOT SHORT--WHICH IS HER MAIDEN NAME **Music producer Phil Spector, center, is led to Los Angeles Criminal Court by a ... more

Photo: Kevork Djansezian

Spector jurors hear 2 versions of case against him / He's on trial in actress' shooting death

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2007-04-26 04:00:00 PDT Los Angeles -- Jurors were told Wednesday that they will have to decide whether music legend Phil Spector displayed a pattern of violence against women that led to the murder of an actress in his home or that he was deliberately targeted by police investigating a tragic accident.

Prosecution and defense lawyers painted the sharply different scenarios during opening statements in Spector's long-awaited murder trial -- more than four years after Lana Clarkson died in the celebrity music producer's Alhambra mansion Feb. 3, 2003.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you will be introduced to evidence of the defendant's very rich history of violence, a history of violence against women, a history of violence involving guns," Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson told the jury during his opening statement. "Through the presentation of the evidence in this case, you will be introduced to the real Phillip Spector."

He recited a litany of Spector's alleged incidents against various women; some of them are expected to testify.

"It's the same pattern," Jackson said. "Spector had been drinking. Spector had a romantic interest in the women, and they were in a room alone. When she tried to leave, Spector flew into a rage."

"Fame and success come back to haunt you," he said of Spector's past encounters. "The evidence will show this was a tragic accident.

"The evidence will also show that before they even had a cause of death, they (the police) had murder on their minds," Cutler said, dismissing the police investigation.

"The evidence indicates this was a self-inflicted wound," he said of Clarkson. "I'm not saying the evidence will show this was a suicide. The evidence will show this is an accidental suicide."

The defense will resume its opening today. Cutler spoke about 45 minutes Wednesday. The presentation dipped into Spector's musical history. An earlier legal dispute briefly delayed the defense's opening. The argument centered on three statements made by Spector to police during the morning hours after Clarkson's body was found.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler ruled that the three statements could not be admitted to the trial by the defense under California law and therefore the defense could not use them in the opening statements.

During its presentation Wednesday, the prosecution portrayed Spector as a person who had a pattern of committing violence against women over decades. The last, tragic example was the death of Clarkson, Jackson argued in his opening remarks.

Spector listened from the defendant's table, occasionally shaking his head no as the prosecution painted a gruesome portrait of a man who couldn't control his anger, especially after drinking.

It was that pattern that played out in the early hours of Feb. 3, 2003, and involved Clarkson, Jackson said. Spector "put a loaded pistol inside Lana Clarkson's mouth -- inside her mouth -- and shot her to death," Jackson said.

Spector, 67, is charged with second-degree murder in the death and faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

In addition to portraying Clarkson's death as a continuation of Spector's violent life, Jackson said the evidence of that night would show that Spector killed Clarkson, whom he had met hours earlier for the first time.

Jackson told the jury they would hear from the limousine driver who waited at Spector's home, heard gunshots from inside, then saw Spector come out the door.

Spector carried a gun, his hand dripped with blood, and he confessed to shooting someone, Jackson said the driver would testify.

Cutler dismissed the driver's account, saying the chauffeur had been sleeping in the car and couldn't hear any gunshots. Cutler also dismissed the weapon as an "ornamental gun" rather than a .38-caliber Colt Cobra Special, as described by the prosecution.